New day dawns for hospital

Edgemoor avoided closure and soon will shift patients to modern facility

Sandy Bertalan (right) brought along her 4-month-old daughter, Brooke, for a tour of the new Edgemoor Skilled Nursing Facility in Santee. Michele Curley (left), the facility's health information manager, explained the features of the patient rooms. (Howard Lipin / Union-Tribune)

Sandy Bertalan (right) brought along her 4-month-old daughter, Brooke, for a tour of the new Edgemoor Skilled Nursing Facility in Santee. Michele Curley (left), the facility's health information manager, explained the features of the patient rooms. (Howard Lipin / Union-Tribune)

Over the following decades, farming ceased and Edgemoor's leafy, pastoral grounds evolved into what they are today: a nursing facility for the poor and chronically ill.

All the patients have been turned down by other facilities. They suffer from traumatic injuries, severe chronic diseases such as Huntington's, AIDS, cerebral palsy, strokes and dementia, or developmental disorders. About 95 percent are eligible for Medi-Cal.

County Supervisor Dianne Jacob, whose district includes the hospital, said the board studied a number of options for Edgemoor, including privatization, before concluding the county could serve the patients best.

“When our neighbors, through no choice of their own, are handed challenges like the patients at Edgemoor, it is our moral responsibility to see that they live with maximum dignity,” Jacob said at a ceremony marking completion of the facility last month.

Like other patients, Britia Walling, 37, had bounced among a handful of health care facilities in Southern California before finding her way to Edgemoor in 2006. Walling suffers from Huntington's disease, a fatal, degenerative nervous system disorder.

Despite Edgemoor's shortcomings, Walling's mother, Nancy Maich, said she and her daughter have been impressed with the care there.

“It's not a pretty place,” said Maich, 58, a retired government worker from San Jacinto. “But the staff are absolutely fantastic, and she has had excellent, excellent care.”

Now, four years after construction began, county officials said they have secured clearances and are preparing to move patients. They had expected to reach this point two years ago, and they blame errors in the original design of the replacement facility as the biggest reason for the delay.

In 2007, the county sued the original architecture firm, San Francisco-based Anshen + Allen, a subcontractor and a construction firm, alleging that mistakes in the design work led to the higher costs and delays. A trial date has been set for July 2010, said Timothy Barry, senior deputy county counsel. In the meantime, the county is covering the bills, with the federal government paying about half.

Among the upgrades Walling is most looking forward to is cable television in her room, her mother said. Walling can't wait to watch her favorite shows again: soap operas and “Dancing with the Stars.”

“It probably wasn't anybody's plan to be living at a facility,” Maich said. “But it is reality. . . . We're just grateful.”